On January 5, 1887, Governor E. Willis Wilson hosted a ball and banquet to dedicate West Virginia’s new capitol building in downtown Charleston. The event marked the end of what had become a running joke in the state’s early years—the location of the capital city. In the first two decades of statehood, the capital had already been moved from Wheeling to Charleston and back to Wheeling, again.
The dedication event in Charleston marked the capital’s final journey—at least in terms of host cities.
This new Victorian Capitol was a massive stone-and-brick structure built on the site of Charleston’s first capitol. Although it wasn’t fully completed until early 1887, state employees had started moving in a year-and-a-half earlier. Its 85 rooms originally housed all state agencies. But, the size of government was growing rapidly. In 1903, a capitol annex was built across the street to accommodate some agencies, including the state archives and museum. The annex later became the Kanawha County Public Library.
In January 1921, the Victorian Capitol was completely destroyed by fire. Three years later, construction work would begin on the state’s current capitol building.
Listen on WVPB Radio December 24 at 7 PM and December 25 at 2 PM.
Live theater has been a challenge in 2020, but the staff of West Virginia Public Theatre refused to give up. Faced with the task of creating their traditional holiday show during a pandemic, the creative team came up with an old-fashioned idea for our current times.
With the utmost safety precautions in place, they gathered a group of actors, sound effects artists, designers and recording technicians to create a show in the tradition of live radio theater.
The result? A Christmas Carol Live Radio Show, recorded live by West Virginia Public Theater in collaboration with West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
“It is very important to the artistic staff and Board of Directors of WVPT that we continue our long-standing holiday tradition of providing moving and inspiring holiday theater events,” said Jerry McGonigle, Artistic Director at WVPT. “We hope that our effort can contribute to the communal Christmas spirit captured in Charles Dickens’ uplifting ghost story, and that we, in our own small way, can help lift the gloom of 2020 for our audiences and friends.”
This year’s ‘Christmas Carol’ will be unlike any you’ve seen or listened to before, as it was adapted straight from the book by Andy Lyons, who plays Scrooge in the production.
“I realized during this process, and much to my surprise, that I have only been exposed to theatrical adaptations of ‘A Christmas Carol’ – both as an audience member, and as an actor,” Lyons said. “Dickens tells us exactly what the streets look and sound and smell like, what the people are wearing; even what the shadows look like falling on Scrooge’s front door. Therefore, in most adaptations we see the descriptions – in the costumes, lighting, and set design – and only hear a fragment of what he wrote. So, I’m really looking forward to sharing this wonderful story in a medium that will allow more of Dickens’ words to take us on this magical journey.”
West Virginia Public Theatre Presents: A Christmas Carol Live Radio Show
The performance features eight actors playing 35 different characters. Additionally, there will be two Foley artists creating sound effects, such as wind blowing, doors shutting, ghostly ambiance, and rattling chains. The director, Lee Blair, has directed and performed in ‘A Christmas Carol’ before, but never in this capacity.
“This is my fifth ‘Christmas Carol’ in my career: three times acting and two times directing,” said Blair. I’ve been Young Scrooge, Marley, The Ghost of Christmas Future and Scrooge himself.”
Before the rehearsal process began, all actors and creatives involved in the show were required to take rapid COVID-19 tests. Additionally, during the rehearsal process actors were spaced out, 8 feet apart, and required to wear masks at all times.
West Virginia Public Theatre
The cast of West Virginia Public Theatre’s 2020 production of ‘A Christmas Carol Live Radio Show’ in performance.
“Since we’ve been dealing with the pandemic since March really, theater has pretty much been shut down,” Blair said. “To be able to be back (safely) in a performance space with actors, designers, technicians, and for this project, cameramen and sound engineers, this ‘Christmas Carol’ was a true blessing and joy.”
From months of adapting the script, to hurdling the obstacles COVID-19 has thrown their way, West Virginia Public Theatre is proud to keep up their holiday traditions with a Christmas show and give this gift of live theater to the public.
You can listen to A Christmas Carol Live Radio Show on WVPB Radio statewide December 24, 2020 at 7 PM and December 25, 2020 at 2 PM.
Dancer Andre Van Damme was born in Belgium on December 16, 1919. Shortly after his 16th birthday, he was admitted to the ballet company of the Royal Opera House of Brussels. When his country fell to the Nazis in 1940, Van Damme joined the underground while continuing to perform.
After the war, economic hardships took their toll. Van Damme and his family emigrated to the United States in 1947 and settled in New York City. Charleston pianists John and Josephine Hiersoux soon convinced Van Damme to move to West Virginia and purchase a ballet school that was on the market.
Van Damme settled in Charleston in 1948 and opened the American Academy of Ballet. In 1956, he founded the Charleston Ballet, which, in 1972, was designated the official West Virginia State Ballet. He choreographed more than 100 original ballets for the Charleston Ballet and routinely danced lead roles during its early years.
Andre Van Damme remained in Charleston until his death in 1989 at age 69. The Charleston Ballet continues to offer regular concerts, including an annual holiday production of ‘‘The Nutcracker.’’
December 15, 1967, was one of the darkest days in West Virginia history. Sadly, it was only the first of many tragic days that West Virginians would suffer.
The Silver Bridge, which connected Point Pleasant with Gallipolis, Ohio, had opened to traffic in 1928. It was the first bridge in the nation to use an innovative eyebar-link suspension system rather than a traditional wire-cable suspension.
But one of those eyebars had a small, unseen defect. The faulty eyebar eventually cracked and began to corrode, out of sight from the public or bridge inspectors. At about 5 p.m. on December 15, the eyebar failed, setting off a series of other failures that caused the bridge to collapse.
It was rush hour, and the bridge was packed with cars. Thirty-one vehicles plunged into the icy waters of the Ohio River. Twenty-one people survived, but 46 died in the disaster.
The Silver Bridge tragedy led to national changes in how bridges were inspected. At St. Marys—some 100 miles upstream from Point Pleasant—another 40-year-old bridge of the same design was immediately closed and later demolished.
Coal operator Justus Collins was born in Alabama on December 14, 1857. He got his start in coal mining in the Deep South but moved north about 1887 to pursue his fortune in the coalfields of southern West Virginia.
In Mercer County, Collins organized the Louisville Coal & Coke Company, one of the first mines to ship coal on the Norfolk and Western Railway. In 1893, he opened Collins Colliery at Glen Jean in Fayette County. About the same time, he started Greenbrier Coal & Coke and later opened the Whipple mine near Mount Hope.
He built identical octagonal company stores at Collins and Whipple. The Whipple store still stands today as a local landmark. After selling the Collins and Whipple mines to the New River Company, he ventured into the new Winding Gulf Coalfield, located largely in Raleigh and Wyoming counties.
He’s often remembered as one of the most disliked coal industry officials of his era—both by miners and by fellow coal operators. Collins eventually left the coalfields, moving first to Charleston and then to Cincinnati. Justus Collins died in 1934 at age 76.
Filmmaker “Pare” Lorentz was born in Clarksburg on December 11, 1905. After attending West Virginia Wesleyan College for a year, he transferred to West Virginia University, where he wrote stories for West Virginia Moonshine magazine. At the age of 20, he moved to New York City and began writing for some of the nation’s most popular magazines.
In 1933, Lorentz conceived, edited, and published a pictorial review of Franklin Roosevelt’s first year as president. Two years later, the government contracted with Lorentz to make a film about FDR’s New Deal. The Plow That Broke the Fields was a pioneering film that helped change how documentaries were made. In 1937, he made another film for the administration. The River showed in emotional terms how the New Deal was addressing environmental problems.
During World War II, Lorentz made hundreds of training films for pilots who were flying previously uncharted routes around the world. Pare Lorentz, who is remembered as “FDR’s filmmaker,” died in 1992 at the age of 86. Five years later, the International Documentary Association created the Pare Lorentz Award to honor the best documentary film of the year.
